NEWS  June 6, 2006 World Championships in 14.1 – A German double success



Engert - Hohmann - Eberle
 

For the first time in the history of the World Pocket Billiard Association (WPA), a World Championship was played in 14.1 with a total of 8 German players participating. This high number was only made possible because a number of European and Asian top players had withdrawn from the competition. The promoter was Dragon Promotion, who had chosen the Hilton Hotel in East Brunswick, New Jersey as the tournament venue. The hotel was up to the requirements of a WC and the 10 Gabriels Signature tables, installed by the company Diamond, allowed for perfect playing conditions. However, 4 tables did not have direct lights, due to the configuration of the ball room. This lead to some irritations amongst the players and could have solved better for a WC event.

The format during the first two days (and nights) was Round Robin in groups of 8 players in races to 100 points. The time limit per match was 75 minutes, which lead to heavy delays of up to 4 hours. Some matches had to be delayed to the next day or were played in the early morning dawn hours. All in all, some bad planning which should not have been the case, since the promoter had been interviewed about his organization before the tournament. A hevy rain which came through the roof of the Hilton Hotel damaged one of the tables and finally corrupted the time schedule.

In my group 4, I had won my first match against qualifier Zion Zvi from Israel, in 9 turns with a 76 series 100-9. My second match against co-sponsor Randy Coldwater (USA), who had promised a bonus for the highest series, I won in three turns 100-11 (High Series 65).
I won my third match against Matt Tetrault (USA) in 5 turns 100-28 with a high series of 51 balls. Then, it came to the show-down with the old champion and Hall of Famer Mike „The Mouth“ Sigel (USA). At the score of 96-23 in the second turn, I committed a foul upon the break and Sigel finished the match in his third turn with a 76 series. In match 5 against US player Holden Chin, I played a 48 series and won the match in 8 turns 100-16 and was qualified for the round of the last 32 players in a double KO bracket.

Match 6 was played at 0.30 AM against „The Black Widow“ Jeanette Lee (USA). I missed the opportunity to take control of the match when she made missed two break balls and gave her the possibility to stay in the match. At a score of 51-40, I lost the cue ball upon a break and the Black Widow answered with a 49 series. I had my last chance to win around 3:00 AM, but I was tired and not concentrated and the 77-100 defeat was my first defeat against a female player in 32 years of billiards career.

Only 5 ½ hours later, I had to play my last group match against US player Tim Hall. Still upset by my “nightly” defeat, I whirled around the table and finished the match off in just one turn with a 100 series (100-0).

Then, the seeding was calculated for the first round in the double KO bracket. In spite of what had been said before, the matches were not no. 1 against no. 32 and so forth, but the winners of the groups were seeded, then the groups seconds and so forth. This lead to some discussions amongst the players, but Charlie Williams stuck with his version.
 


Final

 My first opponent was US player Danny Harriman, who had reached the highest series at the 14.1 Challenge mi-January in Louisville with 139 balls. To start, Harriman played an 84 series, and I answered with a 99 series. After the break, I did not have any position and was forced to play a safety. After a few turns, a time limit of 25 seconds was imposed on the match, which lead to a disaster. Both players now made mistakes they normally would not have made. At 148-141, I had a good break ball in the 9th turn and managed to pocket this ball. But the cue ball was pushed into a pocket by another object ball and instead of a match ball, my opponent had an open table. Harriman made the last 9 points and this was my third defeat in this tournament (147-150). In the first round of the losers bracket, I played Stephane Cohen (FRA), and won 150-120 in 10 turns. In spite of a 111 series, this match was not played on a very high level. The next match against my fellow countryman Oliver Ortmann, things were not better. My 85 series was one of the worst of the entire tournament, since I committed very many position mistakes. Lucky enough, Ortmann did not show his best billiards, so that I could score a 150-96 success in 12 turns – at 3:00 AM… and was qualified for the KO bracket of the last 16 players. Most of the players were expecting a draw for the next day, but there was none. Charlie Williams organized the next round according to a modus in which all matches so far were taken into account. So, players who both came from the losers bracket were playing each other, and also players who both came from the winners bracket. When some of the players expressed their irritation, the promoter just commented „Welcome to America“.

At 3:40 AM I knew that my next opponent was Mika Immonen (FIN) and our match was scheduled for the next day. I had the break shot and put the cue ball at the edge of the pocket. The Finnish player made a deliberate foul and played the cue ball to the corner. He repeated this twice and after the third foul, his score was -18. The new rule discussed at the players meeting, according to which the foul player must play automatically a new break shot in such cases, turned out to be an advantage for the Finnish player. He played a good break shot and forced me to play a risky safety shot. I managed to win the safety battle and had the first opportunity to play a series. But I missed an easy ball and had lost the control over the match already at the beginning. After 11 turns, I lost 51-200, whereas Immonen finished the match with a 119 series. Rank 9 was not what I had hoped for, but this rank was surely due to my lack of exercise in 14.1.

Two of my fellow countrymen were much better and showed why 14.1 is their favourite discipline. In the semi-finals, Thomas Engert defeated Immonen clearly 200-20 and played a 99 series. In the second semi-final, Thorsten Hohmann had to struggle more against Max Eberle (USA), but after 4 hours of play, he won the match 200-177.

So, it came to a German-German final between Thomas Engert and Thorsten Hohmann, two of the best 14.1 players of the world these last years.
Hohmann had a head start with a 92 series and Engert could only answer with 21 points. Then, Hohmann, who lives in Florida, increased his lead to 160-21. Engert came back to 80-160, but then had to sit and watch his opponent finish the match in the third turn with a 40 series 200-80. Hohmann made his dream of the 14.1 World Championship come true, while Engert had to accept a bitter 2nd place. However, both showed great sport and can be more than satisfied with their results.

Thorsten Hohmann played a 174 series in this match against „Mr.400“ John Schmidt (USA), a series which represents a record at WC.

I also have to mention that Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) reached the quarter-finals and only lost to later World Champion Hohmann 117-200. In one of her matches, she played a 85 series, also a record at WC and perhaps a world record!!!


Adi - Ralf